5 AM
by FreeBird2017
Summary: When Jem wakes up at 5:00 and Will isn't in bed, he goes looking for him.


Jem woke up suddenly at five in the morning to a cold bed and no Will. He vaguely remembered hearing Jamie crying through the baby monitor and feeling Will get up, but that had been at three and the bed was long cold.

Jem wanted nothing but to go back to sleep, but he knew that Will was exhausted from having to get up at three every morning to sing Jamie back to sleep. The first night they brought him home from the hospital, he had woken up screaming promptly at 3:00 and the only thing that got him to quiet down and go back to sleep was Will singing "Lava" from the short movie of the same name. The next night, Jem had tried singing it to him and Jamie had just screamed until Will took over.

Now, two weeks later, Jamie was still doing his nightly cry and Will had to get up every time. Everyone reassured them that he would grow out of it eventually, but it didn't seem to be looking that way at the moment and Jem had taken to letting Will sleep in a few hours in the morning while he took care of Jamie.

Jem threw the covers off and tiptoed down the hall to Jamie's room. The door was closed, so he very quietly turned the handle and pushed it open without a sound in case Jamie woke up again. Once the door was open all the way, Jem's heart skipped a beat when he saw that the crib was empty and Will was nowhere to be seen. He was about two seconds away from pulling out his phone and calling the police to report his husband and child as missing when he heard a small coo from the corner. He quickly turned around and saw Will leaning back in the rocking chair with his feet up on the footrest. He was fast asleep, but the little baby laying on his chest was looking at Jem with big blue eyes and waving a tiny fist around.

Jem took his phone out of the pocket of his pajama pants and, thankful that the light from the hallway and the nightlight was enough, took a quick picture. After texting it to Will, he went over to the two and very carefully lifted Jamie off of Will's chest. Will must have been really tired because he didn't even move when Jem picked Jamie up. He was such a mother hen that he usually woke up straight away when Jem tried to pick up Jamie.

"You really need to stop waking up in the middle of the night and let your daddy get some sleep," Jem whispered to the baby. "Look how tired you made him."

Jamie responded by grabbing a fistful of Jem's shirt in his left hand and sticking his right thumb in his mouth.

"You could also start actually listening to other people when they try to sing to you. You're so high maintenance," Jem teased. It didn't actually bother him, though. He was glad that Jamie had picked Will over him and that he depended on Will for that one specific thing (although he was sure it was because Will was the first one to sing to him), since they took turns doing everything else.

Jem looked over at Will, who, now that there wasn't a baby on his chest, had turned slightly onto his side in the chair, and then looked back down at Jamie. His eyes were half closed and he looked like he was about to fall asleep in Jem's arms, so Jem gently kissed him on the forehead and put him in his crib. Once he knew Jamie was fast asleep, he looked back over to Will and thought briefly about waking him up. He decided against it, since he knew Will would be tired and grumpy all the way back to their room and then wouldn't be able to fall asleep for a while.

Jem tiptoed back to their room and got Will's favorite blanket from the blanket drawer that Will had insisted they have when they moved in (and which was positively overflowing with blankets). Back in Jamie's room, he carefully covered Will with the blanket, trying not to wake him up, kissed him in the same place he had kissed Jamie, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

He got back into bed and turned on his side to look and the picture on his bedside table. It was their first family picture, taken the day that Jamie was born. Will, who was the first to hold him, had Jamie in his arms and was looking at the camera with a smile of pure joy. Jem was standing next to him, holding one of Jamie's tiny feet but looking up at Will.

The last two weeks had been quite the wild ride, but Jem wouldn't give it up for the world.


End file.
